


RWBY: Contract

by The_Dark_Knight_of_Remnant



Series: Capes in Remnant [1]
Category: DCU (Comics), Deathstroke the Terminator (Comics), RWBY
Genre: Achieve Men, Assassination Attempt(s), Rooster Teeth Cameos - Freeform, Shadows From The Past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-13
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-05-13 12:49:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5708749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Dark_Knight_of_Remnant/pseuds/The_Dark_Knight_of_Remnant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mountain Glenn was the last straw. After their multiple interferences in her plans, Cinder decides to hire Remnant's greatest assassin to eliminate Team RWBY. The young huntresses have a bounty on their heads and Deathstroke is out to collect. Disclaimer: I own none of these characters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

All was quiet at Beacon as the last of the students retired for the night. It was a Sunday evening and everyone needed their sleep to be ready for classes the next day. It's hard enough to stay awake through Port's lectures even with a full eight hours.

Security was relatively weak compared to most other training facilities. When you have a school filled with some of the best combatants the world has to offer, human and Faunus, hired guards aren't really the biggest concern. Add the facts that Remnant has been spoiled by an extended time of peace and sense of security (Unless your name happens to be Schnee) and Beacon is a rather easy safe to crack.

Slade was counting on this. The guards that were posted were focused on the info centers, server rooms, and armories. Not the outer perimeter. They were ready for someone to try and break in to gain intel or hack the systems. Were that the mission that needed to be done, Cinder would have hired someone else. But he was hired for a much simpler contract: eliminate team RWBY.

Slade Wilson, AKA Deathstroke, was set up on the outskirts of the Beacon campus. He spied through the thermal scope of a sniper rifle, noting the guard routines, plotting the campus layout, and planning out the best method to kill four teenage girls in the middle of a dormitory filled with huntsmen armed to the teeth with the most overkill weapons in existence.

"Deathstroke," he heard in his helmet. "Deathstroke!"

"What do you want?" He spoke back into his headset, continuing to survey the area. He was really tired of Roman calling like this. He almost regretted breaking him out of prison. Almost. While it was a high risk job, the reward was even higher. But his payment for breaking Torchwick out paled in comparison to what he was being offered for this.

"Oh I was just checking up on how Cinder's new, favorite assassin is doing." He was trying to start things.

"Don't drag me into your personal problems with your boss, Torchwick. I'm not doing this to spite you or gain favor with Miss Fall. I couldn't care less about any of you. You want these little girls dead. I want the money you've promised me to do it. It's none of my concern if you're upset that your boss picked someone else to do the job other than you."

There was a beat of silence before Roman spoke up again. "Duly noted. Although I will remind you that Cinder wanted these little girls out of the way."

"I believe dead constitutes as 'out of the way.'"

"Yeah. But there's a big difference between dead and assassinated. Dead could be from anything. Assassinated leads to investigation. Investigations draw a lot more attention to people like us. If there's one thing our boss-"

"Your boss. My client," Slade interrupted.

"Same difference!" Roman was getting flustered. "She doesn't want too much attention drawn to this."

"So you want me to take these girls out, but make it look as subtle or accidental as possible? You just made this a lot more complicated. Killing huntresses is difficult enough."

"Too much for you to handle?"

"Of course not. Just adds an extra layer of thrill to the hunt."

"Well, I guess it's important to love what you do."

"I'm definitely not doing this on campus," Wilson decided as he lowered his rifle and rose to his feet, ready to pack up and go. "I have no interest in taking on every huntsman in Vale trying to infiltrate a dormitory to find one team. I've got to get them somewhere else. Somewhere outside the academy. Preferably all at once. Don't want them alerting anyone."

"Sounds like a plan," Torchwick responded. "Just remember: be as discreet as possible."

As if on cue, a Beacon guard spoke up from behind Deathstroke. "Hey, you! You're not supposed to be here." _Damn. Caught like an amateur_ , Slade thought to himself. "What was that?" Roman was demanding over the headset.

The guard noticed the rifle in his hands and drew his gun. "Sir, drop the gun and turn around with your hands in the air." With few other options, Slade did what he was told. With his gun trained on the assassin, the guard spoke into his earpiece. "I've got a highly armed intruder on the Northern perimeter. Requesting backup."

"You really shouldn't have done that," Slade said to the guard. In one, quick motion, Deathstroke reached over his shoulder, pulled his ballistic staff from his back, aimed it at the guard, and fired. A small needle flew from the barrel in the tip and implanted itself in the guard's neck. Almost instantly, the guard dropped his gun, fell to the ground, and began jerking violently.

"What. The hell. Was that?!" Torchwick asked.

Slade's response was blunt. "Threat neutralized."

Roman paused for a moment. "Remember what I said about Cinder not wanting you to draw attention? Well, getting caught and killing a guard tends to draw a lot of attention!"

"Well maybe if I didn't have to stop to deal with you, I would've heard him sooner," Slade rebutted, gathering his rifle and starting to leave.

"Any more bystanders end up dead, and your payment's gonna rapidly start getting smaller! Got it?!" Torchwick scolded.

Distracted: it was an acceptable reason for a rookie, but not for a hardened veteran to the art. Slade got sloppy. His mind was somewhere else. He was thinking about his contract. Normally he would've turned it down. But the reward was too much to not accept it, regardless of who the target was or how personal it got.

Deathstroke turned his earpiece off and made his way into the woods.

* * *

 

Professor Ozpin stood in front of the window in his office, looking out on the campus. Beacon was in a difficult situation. A guard was killed last night. Not an accident. Not a surprise Grimm attack. It was murder. Someone was on campus. Someone hostile.

Ozpin gave strict orders to raise security as high as possible without alerting the students. An investigation would be run until more information was learned about the attack. Until drastic measures were deemed necessary, he didn't want to worry the students. They had enough to worry about with their studies.

"Did he have a family?" Professor Goodwitch asked as she entered the room.

"No," Ozpin answered, his eyes still gazing out the window. "Mister Kenneth was not married. He had no children. He is survived by a cousin in Mistral. According to his friends, he was the 'life of the party' but rarely let others into his personal life."

"It's a shame that he was lost. Especially in this way," Glynda added as she took a place beside the headmaster.

"Yes. It truly is." There was a moment of silence before Glynda spoke again.

"It was poison."

"Yes. I had assumed that."

"Taijitu venom to be precise. This was the tool used to get it in his system." She handed him a dart pulled from the guard.

"Someone put themselves in a lot of danger to get a lethal weapon," Ozpin said as he rolled the needle in his hand. "Anyone willing to extract venom from a two-headed snake and use it to fill a needle I can only assume is meant to be fired from a longer range isn't just a random criminal. This was a professional."

"According to the coroner, Mister Kenneth was dead within fifteen minutes of injection. It takes two hours for Taijitu venom to kill a human."

"It must have been altered," he inferred. "Modify the genes of the snake or add some chemicals to the venom and you can get it to meet your demands. This is how antidotes can be made."

"I know. But that can't be easy or cheap. Someone had to figure out that formula. I doubt they went through all of that trouble on one dose."

"It's likely an ace in the sleeve," he hypothesized. "Something that will kill quietly and efficiently. My guess is that this is someone who does this a lot. Someone who kills for a living. Someone who can afford to perfect the toxin and gets enough opportunities to test it on live subjects."

"But why Kenneth? Nothing else was done. No one else was hurt," Goodwitch asked.

"I don't think he was the target. He likely caught the killer before he could complete his mission. He killed him and ran before more guards could show up. Mister Kenneth was merely collateral damage."

"Then what was the killer's mission?"

Ozpin paused. "How I wish I knew." He turned and walked over to his desk. He reached into a drawer and pulled out a small vial filled with liquid. "Give this to our medical team," he ordered as he handed the vial to Glynda.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's the result of a study I did long ago on Taijitu venom," Ozpin answered. "This assassin may return. If he does, I want us to be ready. This a counter agent that should slow the venom's progress. It won't cure it, but it should buy enough time to get real medical attention. I want a large supply synthesized and administered to everyone on campus: students, teachers, guards, staff, everyone."

"And what should we tell the students?"

"Nothing that they don't need to know. Tell them it's a routine vaccination. Don't mention this incident. Not yet. We should do everything we can to deal with this without alerting the students."

Goodwitch didn't fully understand his decision to keep everyone in the dark, but trusted his judgement enough to not argue. "As you wish, Professor." She turned and left the room, leaving the headmaster with his thoughts. He raised the killing weapon closer to look at it in more detail. _Interesting_ , he thought as he noted the dart's black and orange color scheme.

* * *

 

Team RWBY had been waiting for this moment for days. They'd spent hours preparing; making sure they were ready. They had to be ready. This was it. There was no room for error.

There they sat, around a radio they borrowed from Team SSSN, with their Scrolls out and ready to dial. They already had the number entered. All that was left was to wait for the signal and press call. Their reactions had to be instantaneous or they would surely be beaten.

"Steady," Weiss said to her teammates. The song was coming to an end. The signal was to sound after that. "Steady," Weiss said again. The final line was given and the guitar riff closed it. "Easy, team. Hold your grou-"

"Would you cut that out?!" Yang yelled at her teammate. "Stop trying to be a badass! It's not working!" This brought a chuckle out of Ruby.

The radio host was listing the title and artist of the song that just ended and was about to- Wait! There it is! The signal! The unmistakable bird-like cry of the British celebrity they all dreamed of!

"Dial! Go Go Go!" Ruby ordered as her teammates all shrieked in panic as they mashed their call buttons and listened for a response.

Dial tone. Dial tone. Dial tone. Click. "We have a winner!" the radio host announced. Yang got a busy signal and looked to Blake. Blake got nothing and looked to Weiss. Weiss's expression was one of sadness, as if she'd flunked out of Beacon. They all three looked to their leader. Ruby's face was in pure shock.

"What's your name?" they heard over the radio. In a tiny, breathless voice, they heard, "Ruby Rose."

"Well congratulations Ruby! You just won free tickets to see the Achieve Men this Saturday night at the Oum Dome!"

And at that moment, all anyone listening to that channel could hear was the joyous screams of Team RWBY echoing through their leader's phone.

Weiss shrieked particularly loudly. If she had a guilty pleasure, it was the Achieve Men. Ever since Yang introduced their music into her life, she had become more of a die hard fan than any of them. Unfortunately, their music and behavior was not considered Schnee-level entertainment and she was forbidden by her father to "waste" his money on their ridiculous ticket prices. Finally getting to attend a concert was all she'd wanted for months.

RWBY's cheers died down when they heard the sound of Nora shouting angrily from Team JNPR's room from across the hall. This was followed by the sounds of a door being swung open, footsteps approaching RWBY's dorm, banging on the door, and Nora's voice pleading, "Take me with you!"

Ruby and Blake were fans of the Achieve Men and liked their music. Yang was attracted to the members. Weiss loved everything about them. But Nora took all this and, in her classic style, took it a couple steps farther and crazier. While some girls would swoon over the Lads of the Achieve Men, Nora had actually planned their abductions before to keep them all for herself. Pyrrha, Jaune, and Ren had all admitted to their close-knit group of friends of their guilty pleasures of the boy band's music. "It's just too catchy," Jaune had stated once. The girls of RWBY were still pretty sure that, with Nora on their team, they had all just grown to like it after constant exposure. Like a musical Stockholm syndrome.

The radio host began talking again. "Alrighty then. You sure sound excited. Well, I have two offers for you. I can give you four front row tickets with backstage passes, or I can give you double the tickets, but double the distance away and no passes."

Apparently, Nora heard this, too. "Get the eight! Get the eight!" she yelled from behind the door.

Weiss was not settling for that. "Ruby, please, for the love of all things holy, get the four."

Yang was on her side. "Yeah, go with the four. Plus, we can go backstage. We could actually meet the band! I don't wanna give that up for Nora!"

"Gee! Thanks, Yang!" Nora yelled from outside.

Blake argued against the other two with logic. "If we get eight tickets, twice as many people can enjoy the show. And farther seats won't make that much more of a difference. The contest is worth more that way."

"But Blake," Yang said. "The band!"

"Even if we meet them, it will only be for a minute of two. And what if they're jerks? Do you want to risk ruining your mental image of them at the expense of four more of our friends not being able to go and have fun?"

"Yes!" Yang replied.

"But if they're not jerks, which they won't be," Weiss interjected, "then it's absolutely worth their expense." She then turned to Ruby. "Ruby, if you listen to me about anything, do it now. Forget Nora. Get the four. Do what's right."

Ruby was stuck. On one hand, they could have closer seats and backstage passage. On the other hand, they could bring JNPR too. But on the other hand, they could meet the band. But on the other hand, Ruby didn't care about meeting them anyway. But on the other hand, Weiss and Yang really cared. But on the other hand, JNPR wanted to see them too. Ruby looked at the door, and could practically see Nora's face through it.

"Um, Ruby. Ruby, are you still there?"

Ruby was snapped out of her decision making by the host who was still waiting on the other side of the call. "Yeah, I'm still here."

"Well then, which package do you want?" he asked.

Ruby prepared herself for the backlash she would get and said, "We'll take the eight."

"NO!" Weiss and Yang yelled simultaneously. "What did- Why would you- Come on!"

Ruby didn't get a chance to explain herself before Nora was grabbing everyone and pulling them in for a group hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you so muuuuch!"

"Nora," Blake asked. "How did you get in here?"

"I've been picking your lock this whole time, silly," she explained. Of course Nora knows how to pick a lock.

* * *

 

"Well congratulations Ruby! You just won free tickets to see the Achieve Men this Saturday night at the Oum Dome!" the radio scanner tuned in to hear. It was set to tune in to a set of keywords: Beacon, huntress, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, etc.

"Well then," Slade said to himself. "Isn't that convenient?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is the first chapter to my very first fiction. It took me long enough to get it here, too. This story is done and I will be releasing chapters weekly. I'd very much appreciate any reviews on this and feedback as to what worked and what didn't.


	2. Chapter 2

It was 5:00 PM on a Saturday afternoon, and Team RWBY was en route to the Oum Dome. They were only a few hours away from seeing the Achieve Men live. They were riding the airship from Beacon to the city. They all chose to stand the whole way for… reasons.

"Well that was unpleasant," Blake said, holding her backside.

"Yeah," Ruby agreed. "I'm not gonna sit right for a week."

Yang chimed in, "My ass hurts more than that one time-"

"Please don't finish that statement," Weiss interrupted.

"What? I was talking about the time I got bit by a dog and needed a rabies shot." the blonde explained. "Biggest needle I've ever seen. Well, it _was_ the biggest."

"Does anyone know what we got vaccinated for?" Blake asked the group.

"I'm not sure," the heiress answered. "They didn't say. There must be a virus going around or something. It'd be a shame if everyone got too sick to attend class."

"I'd take being sick over another one of Professor Port's lectures," Ruby complained.

"Don't be such a baby," her partner scolded. "Think about how lucky you are. You're attending Beacon Academy. You're a huntress in training. And you're on your way to see the Achieve Men in concert. Which reminds me, I'm still angry with you!"

"Nice segue, Weiss," Yang said.

"What?!" Ruby protested. "JNPR wanted to go just as much as the rest of us. I thought

it would be fun if we all got to go together."

"You know what would have been more fun?" Weiss asked. "Meeting the band!"

"You dropped the ball, Ruby," her sister said. "You dropped the ball."

Weiss started to choke up a bit. "I could have gotten to meet Gavin."

Blake rolled her eyes at how dramatic her teammates were being. "It's okay, Ruby. I understand. And I think you did the right thing."

"Thanks, Blake."

The airship landed at a station about a mile from the stadium. Team JNPR was waiting for them. They had gotten their vaccinations earlier in the day and were able to leave sooner.

As Team RWBY stepped off of the ship, Nora sprinted over and pulled them all into a group hug. "I love you guys so much for letting me come this is gonna be great we're gonna have so much fun I can't believe this is happening…" The rest of her team held back for a second, giving RWBY exhausted looks. Nora had enough energy as it was. But put her into fangirl mode, and the average person can only take so much. They were very close to exceeding that point.

Nora let go without ceasing her constant babbling. "This is great don't you guys think this is great how could you not think this is great what could possibly be more great?!"

"Nora," Pyrrha interrupted her. "I think they understand your excitement now."

Nora took a second to realize how annoying she was probably being. "Oh. Sorry. I'm just so happy that I get to go!"

"At least one person is," the Ice Queen snarled at her leader.

Jaune chimed in, "Anyway, thanks a lot for bringing us along. I can't believe you passed up front row seats and backstage passes just for us. I mean, if it was me-" Pyrrha, realizing how Weiss and Yang felt about the situation, punched him in the arm to try and shut him up, but the damage was done.

Ruby's two displeased teammates were already glaring at her again. She tried desperately to ignore them. "Heh heh," she chuckled nervously. "No problem." She didn't dare look at her team behind her.

"I hate to interrupt," Ren finally spoke up, "but shouldn't we be going about now? Those lines are going to be very long."

And so they made their way to the Oum Dome, ready for a fun night. And Nora didn't shut up the whole way. As they were walking, though, none of them noticed the armor-clad assassin traversing the rooftops heading for the same destination. _Not yet_ . _Too many of them. Need to wait for a better opportunity._

* * *

 

"Well that's just great," Weiss complained. "We've been here for over an hour and still haven't even gotten to the ticket booth yet."

"Weiss, relax," Blake tried calming her down. "We still have plenty of time before the show starts. We're going to make it."

"Well the sooner the better," she continued to whine.

"I agree," Ren remarked from the back of the group. He was clearly on edge.

Everyone else was a little shocked by his out-of-character impatience. "Why? What's the big deal, Ren?" Ruby asked.

"Well," he started, "after they finish rehearsing, it's customary for some of the Achieve Men to come outside and greet the fans. You know, to get everyone excited." Weiss and Yang perked up when they heard this. "Let's just say that it's better if we get in before that happens."

"Why?" Yang questioned. "Why would we not wanna see them before the show? That would make the whole losing backstage passes thing worth it." Blake hit her in the side for being rude. "I mean, no offense."

"None taken," all of JNPR replied. They weren't kidding themselves. They understood how badly she and Weiss wanted to get backstage and that bringing them along wasn't their idea.

"Just trust me when I say: we need to get in as quickly as possible."

"Hey, look! It's the band!" a random person in line yelled, followed by a hundred high-pitched screams.

Low and behold, the Lads of the Achieve Men, Michael, Gavin, and Ray, were right outside the entrance saying 'Hi,' signing things, and taking pictures with a swarm of fans.

Yang and Weiss started to run over when they heard Ren behind them: "Oh no." They looked back and saw him pointing to the swarm. They turned back around and saw Nora already trampling people to get to the stars.

When the Lads noticed Nora shoving her way through the crowd with a crazy look in her eyes, their faces turned to those of pure terror. They started shouted obscenities and trying to push their way away from the mad redhead.

"Damnit! It's that crazy bitch again!" Ray yelled. "How does she keep getting into our shows?!"

"Who the f*** cares?! Let's get the f*** outta here!" Michael screamed.

"Oi! Micoo! She's got my bloody foot, Micoo!" Gavin shrieked, his voicing getting very high-pitched. Nora indeed had latched onto his foot and had zero intention of letting him go. "Don't leave me, Micoo!" The other two grabbed the Brit's hands and pulled. "She's tearing me in half!"

"Goddammit, Gavin!" Michael swore. "We need you for the show!"

"I swear to God," Ray declared, "when we're done with this tour, I'm going solo!"

Ren finally cleared his way through the crowd and attempted to pull Nora away from the celebrities. This freed up Gavin's leg enough for his boys to pull him away.

Ray ran up to a security guard, grabbed his walkie talkie and yelled into it, "We need some guys out here! The Hammer is here! I repeat! The Hammer is here! Please, for the love of God, help us!"

Before Ren could escape with Nora, the guards were on them, escorting them away from the stadium.

Ruby stopped one of the guards. "Why are you taking them away?"

"Her?" he responded. "She and her friend have been banned from any concert, panel, or hotel that the Achieve Men might be at."

"Banned?" Yang questioned.

"Yeah. She shows up to almost every show and attacks the band members. One time, she tried to chloroform and kidnap Gavin. You guys aren't with her are you?"

The remaining six looked at each other for a moment. "No." "I don't know her." "Never seen that girl before in my life."

The guard didn't think anything of it and turned back to join his fellow guards. Once he was gone, Weiss smacked Ruby upside her head.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"Never speak to me again," the Ice Queen snarled as she turned and got back in line.

"What?! How was I supposed to know that she would get kicked out?!"

* * *

 

And for the rest of the time that they were in the ticket line, Weiss never said a single word to her leader. They finally got to the ticket booth, where they were greeted with no words or any acknowledgement to them standing there by the middle aged woman behind the window.

Ruby had to speak up. "Hello. My name's Ruby. I won some tickets off a radio show."

"ID?" the woman in the booth ordered, still not making eye contact. Ruby handed over her Scroll and she scanned it. She looked at her monitor in the booth for a couple of seconds, tapped a few keys, and handed Ruby eight tickets.

"Thanks. Hey, we only have six people. So could we maybe trade these eight tickets for six closer ones?" Ruby tried bargaining.

"No."

Ruby thought about Weiss and Yang and how aggravated they were about not getting to go backstage. "Well, what about those backstage passes that were advertised on the radio? Could we trade two tickets for two of those?"

"No."

"What if we traded two tickets for one pass?" Maybe she could at least make Weiss happy.

"No."

"So what do we do with two extra seats?"

"Next!"

"Oh. Okay. Thanks anyway, I guess." Ruby walked off towards the stadium entrance dejectedly with her team.

The next step in the entry process was security. They walked up in time to see an older man in red being detained.

"I'm sorry, sir," one of the security guards was saying, "but firearms are strictly not allowed in the stadium."

"What?!" the man in red shouted with his southern accent. "But I never go anywhere without my shotgun!"

"Sir, there is a list of things that we don't allow here. Shotguns are literally the first thing on that list."

"But what if the Blues are in there, planning to kidnap the band and hold them for ransom to fund their dastardly schemes?! It's my solemn duty as a commanding officer of the Red Army to stop them with extreme and painful prejudice!"

"Sir, you're delusional. Whatever this 'Red vs Blue' conflict you've come up with is, it's not real. Now you can either relinquish your firearm or be escorted out with no refund."

The remaining Beacon students looked at each other, and then at their own weapons.

"Maybe we should have left our weapons at the school before coming here," Blake suggested.

"Has anyone noticed that we carry these with us literally everywhere we go?" Ruby asked the group. "And this is the first place we've been to that won't let us bring them in with us. Does anyone else find that really weird?" Everyone thought on that for a moment, shrugged it off, and continued into the line at security.

When the team and a half got to the checkpoint, they were greeted by a young, blonde guard. "Hey. My name is Officer Wade, man." When everyone looked at the name tag on his shirt, it said 'Hey. My name is Officer Wade, man.' "I'm gonna need to like, check you for anything unusual or dangerous."

"Yeah, we know," Ruby said as she and her friends were already handing over their weapons. Well, everyone except for Yang. She was too attached to her gauntlets to give them up.

"Just, please, be careful with these," Weiss warned him. "These aren't easily replaceable."

"No problem, man. I'll take like, real good care of 'em, man," Wade assured them. Weiss didn't respond to well to being addressed as 'man.' She stormed passed the security gate.

After relinquishing all of their weapons and ammo, the other five teenagers followed the grouchy heiress through security.

As Yang walked passed, still wearing Ember Celica, she was stopped by the security guard. "Hey. Hold on a second, man." She turned to face him. Everyone turned to watch her get busted. "Like, where did you get those cool bracelets, man? I like, totally need to score me a pair!"

Yang played it off like she'd done it a hundred times before. "Sorry. They were a limited time offer. Not sold anymore." Then she turned and walked off, proud of having beat the system.

* * *

 

Upon entering the main part of the Oum Dome, the group had to stop in awe for a moment. It somehow looked bigger on the inside. The stage itself was located in the middle on a raised platform that could rotate. All around the stage were thousands of seats, almost all of which were filled. Those that weren't, were claimed by people still getting in, in the bathrooms, or spending a fortune on concessions.

Above the stage and seats, was an elaborate system of catwalks for stage hands to navigate through to access the seemingly overkill amount of lights and other machines for the show. This stadium was usually used for sporting events, but, with a few modifications, would be used for concerts and theatre. So it needed a lot of options for different lighting effects.

The group of huntresses plus Jaune found their seats. They weren't right up on the stage, but still close enough for that to be less of a complaint. The excitement of being here had replaced Yang's bitterness, but Weiss was still not letting it go. She chose to take advantage of the two extra seats and sat a full seat away from the closest person, who just so happened to be Ruby.

"C'mon, Weiss," Ruby said. "You're still mad?"

Weiss continued to ignore her leader.

"Don't worry, Ruby," Blake assured her. "She'll forget all about being mad once the concert starts."

"You think?" Ruby asked.

Yang chimed in. "I know I already have. By the way, sis, did I mention how much I love you for winning us these tickets?"

"Thanks for bringing us again, too, by the way" Jaune thanked her as well. Pyrrha gave her a thumbs up from behind Jaune.

At that moment, the lights dimmed. Spotlights hit the stage. One by one, the Achieve Men walked out and were introduced. Each introduction was followed by a roar from the crowd. Tonight was going to be fun.

* * *

 

And it was. Even Blake was standing with her arms in the air, cheering and singing along. Yang had to be stopped several times from firing her gauntlets into the air. Weiss eventually came around and joined her friends, singing and cheering louder than anyone. To say the least, everyone enjoyed themselves immensely.

And then it happened. They heard those words: "You've been a great crowd! Thank you! Good night!" The Achieve Men left the stage. The lights came back on and people started to go home. It was then that the students realized the time: 11:00. It had been three hours since taking their seats. Once the concert started, time didn't matter to them anymore.

They got up from their seats and all ran to get rid of the pee they'd all been holding for half the concert. They exited the restrooms one by one until there was only Weiss left to arrive. And she took a while. It got to the point where Yang went back in to get her herself. She walked back out to reveal that she wasn't in there.

Then, from behind them, they group heard the heiress, "Are we ready to go?" They turned and saw her wearing one Achieve Men shirt, with two more thrown over her shoulder, a hat on her head, a poster in one hand, and a Gavin bobblehead in the other. She had gotten out of the restroom first and ran over to the souvenir stand. "What? Where else could I get all of this stuff?"

"Really?" Yang questioned. "At that rate, what made you stop yourself from buying everything?"

"Hush, you," Weiss retorted. They then turned to make their way to the exit and retrieve all of their gear.

As they were walking, a glint of light crossed Jaune's vision. He looked up to find the source of the random flash on an archway ahead. The cause was the fluorescent lights reflecting on a small lense: a scope. He saw the rifle. The shooter. He followed the rifleman's aim to his right and realized the situation. He acted the only way he knew how.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's another chapter down. This one came out a little later than planned. Whoops. But from here on out, expect Tuesday updates. And starting at the end of this chapter, things really start to pick up.


	3. Chapter 3

It all happened so suddenly, but seemed to go so slowly. Jaune yelled Blake's name. The gunshot. He grabbed her. The bullet flew through the air. He threw her to the side. The round penetrated his aura, tore through his armor, and buried itself into his shoulder. Jaune fell to the ground. Blake froze, stunned. A hundred screams. The crowds panicked and ran. The sound of a bolt sliding back. A spent shell being ejected. A fresh one taking its place. Blake looked up to the archway. She saw the shooter lining up his next shot. He pulled the trigger. A second gunshot. The second round flew towards Blake. Suddenly, Yang was there. She raised her arm in front of Blake, the bullet glancing off her gauntlet. Her other gauntlet loaded and ready, she fired a shot at the assassin. When the smoke cleared, he was gone.

Blake snapped out of her trance. She quickly assessed the situation. Jaune was on the ground, bleeding heavily. Pyrrha was knelt over him, keeping pressure on the wound, and shouting his name. Ruby had already sprinted to the security gate and back with their weapons. Weiss had dropped her souvenirs, taken Myrtenaster from her, and was attempted a healing charm to lessen Jaune's bleeding. Yang was watching the rafters for any sign of their assailant. Weiss was finishing the enchantment and giving Pyrrha further instruction to get Jaune to safety. Blake scanned the rafters for their attacker. With her heightened senses, she heard footsteps and turned to see the assassin retreating up a ladder to the upper levels.

"There he is!" Blake shouted to the others, pointing to the assassin's position. Yang instinctively fired another shot at him, just barely missing as he escaped from their sight.

"Don't just stand there," Weiss ordered. "We have to go after him."

Ruby tossed Gambol Shroud to Blake. "Blake, you've got the best hearing and stuff. You stay on him and lead the way. We'll be right behind you."

"And I was afraid we might not get to kick a little ass today," Yang said, readying Ember Celica.

With that, Team RWBY engaged in pursuit.

* * *

 

_Damnit. If it wasn't for that kid trying to be a hero…_ Deathstroke was free running along catwalks and through rafters to try and make it out of the arena. He could hear the girls following him. They did a good job keeping pace. No matter what he tried, he could not seem to evade detection.

The one leading the chase, the girl in black he had set his sights on first, she was good. Too good. Not just some girl with a sword. She knew exactly what she was doing. She'd spent time honing her senses and learning how to use them to her maximum ability. He simply could not shake her. The dossier had no mention of her past or training. Slade knew why and was confirming his suspicions about the dark-haired member of team RWBY. What were really the odds of there being another Faunus with combat training named Blake Belladonna? But now was not the time.

Slade had to drop to his knees to dodge under the flame blast. They had caught up with him.

* * *

 

Blake had no trouble keeping on the attacker's trail. Her sharp eyes could easily spot him running along the intricate system of catwalks. When he escaped from sight, she would allow herself a moment's pause for her heightened hearing to pick out the signature sounds of his armor rustling.

When they had gotten close enough, Weiss launched a blast of flaming Dust at the assassin. He expertly slid under the attack, but bought enough time for Blake to get within range. She drew Gambol Shroud, collapsed it into kama form, and flung it at the assassin. In a fraction of a second, the assassin dodged the blade and grabbed hold of the ribbon connecting Blake to her weapon before it could even go taut. He pulled hard and she fell from her perch in the rafters. With the ribbon still in hand, Blake quickly pulled Gambol Shroud back to her and threw back up. It caught around a beam and stopped her fall.

"Wow," Blake couldn't help but say out loud as she looked at the concert seats below. Blake took a second to let her heart rate catch back up again and thought about how close she was to an awful death. She looked back up to the beam that had saved her life. _Lucky_. She then began her climb back up to the catwalk above. Her team still needed her help.

* * *

 

Yang used the assassin's pause in his escape to her advantage and leaped directly at him, firing her gauntlets from the air. Deathstroke diverolled to avoid her shots and drew his own handgun. Upon her landing on his catwalk, he opened fire. Yang, using her gauntlets to shield herself, struggled to protect her vital areas from the assassin's gunfire.

As Slade was lining up a killing shot, a rifle went off to his left and he had to backstep to avoid losing his head to Crescent Rose's curved blade. Ruby had launched herself directly in front of the assassin to lessen the heat on Yang. He took aim on her, but Ruby dive kicked Deathstroke's gun from his grasp, landing within arm's reach of him. This was her mistake. While deadly in Ruby's hands, Crescent Rose is not meant for close range and tight areas. Slade used this and, once getting past the massive blade, easily closed the gap.

He quickly and precisely attacked Ruby, focusing on pressure points to try and slow her down. Yang leaped back into the fray with another shotgun punch, this time hitting Slade in the shoulder. She closed in and the two engaged in a violent dance of punches and kicks, blocks and shotgun blasts. Deathstroke ended the dance with a quick counter, spinning around, twisting her arm behind her back and knocking her to her feet.

He drew a knife to finish her when an ice blast caught him in the wrist, pinning his forearm to the railing. Slade looked up to see Weiss leaping toward him, sword in hand. He just barely avoided being stabbed through the chest. He followed his dodge with a forearm to her face and a kick to the stomach, knocking her away, before pulling his arm free of the ice binding.

Farther below, Blake had climbed up to the beam she was hanging from and was leaping from beam to beam to reach her partners.

With Weiss no longer in the way, Ruby swung her scythe again at the assassin. But Deathstroke was ready. He sidestepped the attack and drew his own ballistic staff to block the next swing. Ruby was smarter this time, not allowing the assassin to get past Crescent Rose. As Ruby and Deathstroke exchanged blows, Yang rose back to her feet and charged the assassin, attempting to catch him off guard. The plan was to no avail. Deathstroke easily avoided the initial punch, collapsed his staff, and countered by throwing Yang over his shoulder into Ruby, both of them flying over the railing to a catwalk below.

By this point Blake had made it back up to Slade's level and drew her weapon. Simultaneously, Weiss was rising back to her feet. With the other two girls incapacitated for the time being, Deathstroke paused to size up the two left on either side of him. With his left hand he extended his staff; with his right he drew a sword from over his shoulder.

* * *

 

_This is off_ , Blake thought to herself. _Everything about him is too familiar. The movements. The combat. The arsenal. It all echoes… no. It can't be him._

"Who are you and what do you want?" Weiss demanded of the assassin, hoping to get a little information while Blake still pondered over how she recognized him.

The assassin calmly replied, "I'm the one they call when someone needs to be taken care of. Today, I'm taking care of you."

_A hired killer. It could be. But not this. He wouldn't sign on for something like this. Not against me._

"Who hired you?" Weiss continued to interrogate.

His answer was simple. "Someone you pissed off enough that they called me in and offered to pay me a lot of money to get you out of the way."

_The voice is muffled by the helmet, but… could it be him?_

"Well this is a bounty you won't be collecting," Weiss stated before readying Myrtenaster for her next attack.

"You know, my contract only orders that I get you out of the way of my employer's future plans. I don't have to kill you. You could just surrender now."

"Not a chance!"

* * *

 

With that said, Weiss lunged forward. Deathstroke deflected the attack with his staff and followed up with his sword. Weiss parried but was caught off guard when the staff came around a second time and caught her in the head. She had to step back, dazed, to regain her focus. It was a light hit, more meant to toy with her than to cause injury. Slade was enjoying this too much to end it now, even with all of the openings she had left him.

With Slade focused on Weiss, Blake moved in. Deathstroke turned to block her attack and counter with a follow up. Blake countered it with a second strike, unsheathing Gambol Shroud and swinging with the scabbard. The two continued like this for a few seconds before locking blades and pushing off one another.

Meanwhile, while the two were dueling, Ruby and Yang were recovering on a catwalk ten feet below them.

"Let's see how he takes a couple shots to the head… and everywhere else," Yang said aggressively, preparing Ember Celica to fire.

"No!" Ruby stopped her. "He's too close to Blake. You'll hit her, too."

Weiss took the few seconds she had while the assassin was concentrated on Blake to recover from her dizzying blow and rethink her strategy. He's fast, strong, has perfect style and a weapon in each hand. He has an insane close range advantage over her. She needed to stay farther away. Unfortunately, that's nearly impossible on the narrow catwalk. She needed to tip the odds in her favor somehow.

Weiss prepared Myrtenaster for her next attack and, once an opening presented itself, blasted a wave of ice at Deathstroke. She had aimed and timed it perfectly so the blast hit the tip of his staff, freezing it to the railing next to him. Noticing the inconvenience, Slade abandoned the staff and drew his second pistol on Weiss. She leaped over the bullet and conjured a glyph platform to launch herself off of.

As Weiss lunged off her glyph toward the assassin, Blake delivered a simultaneous strike from behind. Deathstroke sidestepped Weiss's attack and spun to counter Blake's. The two immediately followed up their attacks to keep the heat on. They engaged in an elaborate dance with the assassin full of slashes, parries, dodges, Dust, and bullets. Despite being caught between the two Huntresses with only his sword and reflexes, Deathstroke held his own, still waiting for his opening.

He found it when he threw more force into his strike on Blake, knocking her off balance long enough for him to pull his staff loose from its ice casing. With it, he blocked a slice from Weiss and spun around to deliver a devastating blow to Blake's head, knocking her to the ground. Weiss thrusted her blade at his chest, but Slade dodged it, caught her arm, jabbed her in the gut with his ballistic staff, and fired its hidden gun.

"Weiss!" Ruby shouted as her teammate dropped to her knees.

"Now can I shoot him?!" Yang yelled at her sister.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you," Deathstroke called down, picking Weiss up to her feet. He positioned her so she was blocking any shot Yang or Ruby might get. Blake rose to her feet, but Slade saw her.

"The same goes for you," he said as he pointed his ballistic staff at her. "You see, I just hit your friend here with a dose of Taijitu venom." As he said this, he pulled the small needle from Weiss's stomach, showing it off to her teammates. "I know you've been given a vaccine for it, but all that will do is prolong her suffering." With this, Weiss began shuddering with pain. Her limbs began to contract. "Even now, she's going into shock. She'll be completely paralyzed in ten minutes or so. If she doesn't get help soon, she'll be dead in no more than two hours. That's not very long"

He said those last words and pushed her over the railing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact: This is the first chapter I wrote. RWBY: Contract spawned from this action sequence.  
> I hope the combat wasn't too difficult to follow. If it was, don't worry. This is as crazy and complicated as it gets as far as the location and amount of people involved.  
> Remember to check in next week for the next chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

Weiss was falling. Ruby panicked. Yang froze. The assassin turned and ran. For a moment, time stood still. Blake knew she needed to save Weiss. There were only stadium seats far beneath her. She would never survive the fall. But, the attacker… Blake had to catch him; find out who he was. She weighed the options, made her decision, and dove off the catwalk toward her teammate.

She caught Weiss, turned and threw Gambol Shroud up into to the rafters as she did before. It caught a beam (Possibly the same one) and stopped their fall. Blake heard gunshots and looked up to see Yang blasting away up at where the assassin stood. By this point, he was already gone. Ruby had made her way to a platform a few feet to Blake's side.

_ This was easier when it was just me _ , Blake thought to herself as she struggled not to drop her poisoned teammate. Her head was still spinning from the blow from the assassin's staff and Weiss was getting heavy. It definitely didn't help that her small shudders had turned to constant jerks, as if being repeatedly electrified. Blake was losing her grip.

Ruby called out from her platform, "Blake! Toss her over!"

Blake started to swing herself toward Ruby until she gained the strength and momentum to "throw" Weiss over to her. Ruby caught her arm and pulled her up. As she set Weiss down, Blake swung herself over and nimbly landed on the catwalk next to them.

"She's locking up!" Ruby yelled to her teammates as she examined Weiss.

"Can't… move," Was all Weiss could say through the pain.

"What do we do?" Yang asked as she ran over.

"We have to get her to a hospital," Ruby answered.

"What about the assassin? We can't just let him get away."

"We don't have a choice! Weiss will die if we don't get her out of here!"

Blake remained silent while thoughts raced through her head: the assassin; the attack; Weiss; Jaune; almost her. She had the same debate in her mind that Ruby and Yang were having aloud.

Blake finally spoke up, "Ruby, call the paramedics. Tell them to get ready for a poisoned patient. Yang, contact Professor Ozpin. Tell him everything that's happened: the attack, the assassin, Jaune, Weiss, everything. Make it fast. Then, you need to get Weiss to the paramedics as quickly as possible."

Ruby nodded in approval, accepting Blake's call to leadership, and pulled out her Scroll to make the call.

"What about you?" Yang inquired of her partner.

"The assassin… I'm going after him," Blake answered.

"Okay then. I'll come with you," Yang responded, cocking Ember Celica.

"No," Blake warned her off. "Weiss needs medical attention now. Ruby's not strong enough to carry her all the way back down from here by herself. She needs your help."

"You can't face him alone."

"I have to. Yang, this is something I need to do."

"Why?"

Blake finally let the truth out, "Because I know him."

* * *

 

Before Yang could respond to her words, Blake turned and ran, making chase after the assassin. She leapt through the rafters to find the closest exit to outside the stadium. After their encounter with him along the system of catwalks, she assumed he would continue to use them to reach a window or hole in the wall. A man of his stature decked out with his armor and weaponry would never make it past security or civilians. He would stay high and hidden.

Blake finally found his way out when she spied an air duct with the grate ripped off. She had forgotten his metahuman strength. He was in a hurry and assumed he'd be far enough away that she wouldn't catch him. She was determined to prove him wrong. She jumped into the vent and crawled through.

The duct brought her to a lower portion of the roof with a large billboard at the edge that turned out to be advertising the Schnee Dust Company. Now that she was outside, Blake realized just how late it was. It was getting close to midnight at this point.

There was no sign of the assassin. The Faunus scanned the area for anything that could tell her where he went. Either he got away or…

"I knew you'd follow me."

Blake turned to see the assassin pouncing down from atop the billboard. He landed on top of her, knocking her to the ground, and placed his blade at her throat.

"You kids are so predictable," he gloated.

"What do you want, Slade?" Blake shouted at him.

He leaned away from her and brought his sword from her neck. "So, you figured it out. Took you long enough," he said as he pulled his mask up onto his forehead, revealing his face. "Hello, Blake."

Blake kicked him away and rolled out from under him, drawing Gambol Shroud. "Bounty hunting? Not really in the best shape for it, don't you think? Last time I saw you, you had both your eyes."

Slade stood up straight. "Professionally, I'm going by Deathstroke now. And as for the eye, turns out your White Fang assassins are better shots than I gave them credit for," he explained, motioning to his eyepatch. "Even blinded on one side, though, I'm still the best goddamn assassin in Remnant. But enough about me. Look at you. Gone from a thieving rebel to a Huntress in training. Adam must be proud," he said sarcastically.

His comment about her former partner incited anger in Blake. "Don't talk about Adam!"

Deathstroke looked amused. "I must have hit a nerve. Guess leaving the White Fang wasn't so easy for you."

"Like it was for you?"

"Turns out your leaders didn't like being told they were idiots and were gonna get everyone killed. When they cut the payments, I had no further reason to stay. But looks like you made it okay without me. I assume Adam's the reason for that."

"Why do you care? You never liked him anyway."

"He was an angry fool who let his aggression drive him more than his thoughts. Turned simple jobs into pointless bloodbaths. But he could more than handle himself in a fight. I knew you'd stay alive with him."

Blake decided to cut to the point. "If you were so concerned about me staying alive, why'd you sign on to kill me?"

"Same reason I signed on to help your cause five years ago: I'm being paid a hell of a lot of money to do it. But, like I said before, I'm only being paid to keep your team out of my employer's way. I don't have to kill any of you," Slade said as he walked over and leaned against the billboard's supports, looking out over the city. He was vulnerable, but confidant. He knew she wouldn't underestimate him.

"But you chose to put a bullet in me, anyway!" Blake responded with anger.

"Yes I did. Seemed like the quickest solution at the time. But it's been awhile since I've killed huntresses and you're better than I recall," the bounty hunter said as he turned to face her. "So the plan changed. And now here you are, still alive."

Blake was astonished at how casual he was about his words. "Am I supposed to be thanking you?!"

"No. You're supposed to be surrendering to me."

"That'd make me easier to kill, wouldn't it?"

Slade sighed. "Blake, this isn't one of your novels. Stop assuming the cliches here. Don't play the part of the hero," he said. "Be the survivor. You know me. You know what I can do. If I wanted to kill you, I could've done it a dozen times over by now. I'm trying to help you out here, for old time's sake. Believe it or not, I take no pleasure in killing friends. But I won't let that stop me from finishing a job. The only thing that will is a promise to my employers that you will keep your nose out of their business."

The Faunus-girl wasn't buying it. "A promise? Really? If someone is offering enough money to get you interested, I highly doubt a vow of obedience is going to tide them over."

Wilson replied, "More like a promise followed by the constant threat of a bullet until my employers are done with their plans or decide a new fate for you and your team. Regardless, though, I'm still getting paid."

Blake, wanting more information, asked, "Who are your employers? Why do they want my team out of their way?"

The hired killer smirked at her question. "Who? You know I can't tell you that. As to why, I don't know or care. But, based on the size of my paycheck, I'm guessing you really pissed them off."

Roman Torchwick was the first to come to mind, but he was already in prison.  _ It must be whoever else he was working with _ .

"So, what's it going to be?" Slade asked.

Blake didn't respond. She didn't know how. This was a lot to take in.

"Wow. I give you a chance to save yourself and your friends, and you say nothing. You do realize the magnitude of what I'm offering, don't you? If you were anyone else, you'd be dead and I'd be depositing a huge check right now."

"I'm not just answering for me. I have a team. A team who still thinks they're invincible; that they are the masters of their world. A team who doesn't know the situation; the stakes. And they don't know the man sent to hunt them."

"Sounds like you've got some explaining to do then."

Slade tossed something to Blake. She caught it and looked it over. It was a small cylinder with a single button on the side and a microphone on one end. "What is this?" she asked.

The mercenary responded, "It's a communicator. In case you can convince your friends that there are other options besides suicide."

"You're still giving me a chance?" the Faunus asked while observing the communicator. She half expected it to explode.

"Blake, I like you. You're a good kid. I'm letting you live, but I'm not letting you go. I'm giving you an opportunity. Waste it, and I'll be back. And I won't be bringing any more chances for you."

Blake looked up to see Deathstroke sliding his helmet back down and walking towards the edge of the building. He stopped at the ledge and turned back, his mask sending a much colder and more intimidating message. His voice muffled by the helmet, making it even more frightening, he warned her, "You have twenty-four hours. If I don't hear back, I will come for you. If you try to run, I will catch you. If you try to track me down, I will be waiting for you. If you still know me at all, you know death awaits at the end of each of these paths. One way or another, I'll see you soon, Blake."

With that, he turned and leaped off the ledge. Blake watched him go, looked down at the communicator in her hand, and turned to go meet up with her teammates, hoping for the best, but fearing the worst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was one of my favorite scenes to write. The relationship between Slade and Blake was always one of the most important things to me with this story. And the next chapter will only dive into that further.  
> And buckle up. It's gonna be significantly longer than any of the previous chapters.


	5. Chapter 5

Blake stood outside the hospital room for what felt like days. She had no idea how she was going to tell her teammates about Slade. She didn't know how to convince them that they couldn't beat him.

She had just finished checking up on Jaune. She showed up while he was still out after being operated on. According to his teammates, he was hurt pretty badly, but not as badly as he should've been after being hit with a bullet the size of the one the doctors pulled out of him. His aura absorbed a huge amount of the force of impact. Luckily, his injuries won't hinder him in the future. The most permanent part will be the scar it'll leave.

Blake couldn't come up with anything good to say then either.

Having wasted enough time already, she pushed through the door. Weiss was asleep in the bed with several tubes hooked up to her pumping her full of drugs to fight the venom. Her muscles were no longer spasming. Her breathing was much slower and more normal than the last time Blake had seen her. It looked as if the worst of the poison's effects were past.

Ruby was sat in a chair next to Weiss while Yang stood next to the window, staring off as she did when she was cooling down from high levels of anger. As soon as Blake closed the door, Yang was on her. She rushed over and embraced her partner.

"We were worried," she said before letting go.

Ruby rushed forward. "You shouldn't have gone off alone. He could have killed you."

"I had the best chance out of any of us of making it back alive," Blake explained. She looked away from her teammates. "Besides, I had to know."

"Had to know what?" Ruby asked.

"I had to know if it was really him," Blake answered. "I wanted to be wrong so badly."

"You said you knew him," Yang said. "Who was he?"

"He was a mercenary named Slade Wilson. Apparently he's calling himself Deathstroke now. He and I share a history together. It's a long story." She looked back and saw Ruby and Yang's eyes begging to hear the whole thing.

Blake sighed and took a seat in an empty chair. Ruby returned to hers while Yang leaned against the wall. "Do you remember how I told you I was a part of the White Fang? Well, they weren't always violent radicals."

Ruby thought back to what she'd learned about the terrorist organization in the past months. "Yeah, I remember. They used to be a pacifist party until their leader changed."

Blake nodded in approval. "Yes. Well, when the new leader started to breed an army, all of his followers had far too little combat experience. Most had never even held a weapon before. So he looked for trainers for his militia. He turned to mercenaries who would do anything for money. His first choice was Slade Wilson."

* * *

 

Five years before…

 

Blake and the other recruits stood at attention as their leader entered the room.

"New recruits," he began. "Thank for joining me. Thank you for your willingness to follow me and do whatever it takes to reclaim our freedom from oppression and persecution."

And this was the part where Blake tuned him out. If nothing else could be said about the White Fang's new leader, let it be known that he knows how to monologue. The first couple of times you hear him, it's awe-inspiring. The tenth time, he's just ranting again. Yada, yada, yada, fighting against oppression. Something, something, the crimes of the humans. Blah, blah, blah, building a new world. _What did he want us for again?_

"-But if you are to follow the White Fang, you must be able to keep up. I have arranged a trainer for you to prepare you for the coming battles you all will face. I introduce to you: Slade Wilson."

As he said this, a white haired man donned in black and orange entered the room. No extra ears. No horns or tails. He was just a man. The entire room of recruits erupted in protest when the human walked in.

"Settle yourselves!" the leader ordered. "Mr. Wilson is here to teach you to fight. That is all. His loyalties are not to the rest of his kind. It is my order that you will follow his instruction and you will pay him the same respect as any of your other commanders. Recruits, From Shadows!"

"We'll Rise!" the recruits recited their pledge. Their leader then turned and left the room. Once he was gone, Slade paced in front of the group, inspected each and every one of them.

"From Shadows, We'll Rise," he finally spoke. "A catchy slogan. It summarizes the ideals the White Fang are being driven by. But what it really is, is a battle plan. In case you haven't noticed, the White Fang doesn't have nearly the funding, resources, or manpower of the militaries and private armies you will undoubtedly be put up against. And the people they do have, have next to no combat experience. In a straight up fight, you would last mere seconds. Some of you may last a whole minute. But you would all die. And your rebooted cause is too young to afford losing any soldiers. Which is why I will not be teaching you to be soldiers. Instead, I will be teaching you to be thieves, saboteurs, and assassins. Yes, you will rise from the shadows. But first, I will teach you to stay in the shadows and use them to your advantage. Stealth and finesse are far greater tools than any amount of guns or swords."

"That's debatable." _Oh no_ , Blake thought. _Shut up, Adam_.

Slade spied the bull Faunus at the back of the room. "And you would be?"

"Adam Taurus," he replied.

"And how would you argue against my point?" the mercenary asked.

"Well, to put it simply, this is a coward's tactic," Adam claimed. "Hiding out of sight so no one knows you exist? That's exactly what the Faunus have been doing for centuries." As the angry recruit continued his rant, Slade silently made his way over to him. "The whole purpose of the White Fang is to rise up against the humans; not continue to hide in fear! Our words are too loud for us to protest in silence! When I swing my blade, I want my enemies to look me in the eyes and know that it was me that defied them!"

By this point Wilson was mere inches from Adam's face, glaring into his eyes. Adam glared back. Suddenly, a gunshot went off. Adam dropped to the floor and clutched his foot.

Slade announced to the rest of the group, "As you can see, Mister Taurus here was so intent on looking his foe in the eyes, he didn't notice me draw my gun until I had already shot him in the foot. Stealth isn't always about hiding in wait and being unseen. Simply drawing your opponent's attention away until there's nothing they can do to stop you is equally as effective, as I've just demonstrated. I'm not teaching you to fight a war and I'm not teaching you to run and hide. I'm teaching you how to survive. And you can survive a fight without your enemy even knowing the fight is happening." He then turned to Adam, who was still clutching his foot in pain. "Relax. It was only a practice round. Rubber bullets. But pull this self righteous crap in the field, and I won't think twice before using live ammunition." Adam glared back at the mercenary but said nothing.

Wilson turned and walked back to the front of the room. He stopped to inspect the youngest member of the group. "What's your name, kid?" He asked her.

"Blake. Blake Belladonna," she answered.

"How old are you, Blake?" the merc continued.

"I'm twelve," the little Faunus replied.

"You're a little young for this kind of thing, don't you think?"

"I've been here since the beginning. And I'm staying here until the end."

That brought a smile to his face. "Well then, looks like you've definitely got the spirit for it. Now how about we see how well you can fight?"

* * *

 

Two months later…

 

"The recruits are getting better," Slade informed his employer. "But they're still not ready for actual combat yet."

"I'm told that there are a select few that exceed past the rest. Tell me about them," the White Fang's leader demanded.

"There are some who learn faster than others," the mercenary explained. "Adam Taurus is particularly exceptional with a blade. He's fast and strong. He's started accepting my tactics and teachings, but he's still having trouble clearing his head while in combat. His rage is starting to cooled down to a simmer, but he's only a second away from boiling over. When he does, he's excellent at pushing the attack, but not so much at falling back and regrouping."

"Sounds useful. I could use someone like him," the leader noted.

Slade took a moment to digest his approval of Adam and his over-aggressiveness before continuing. "Probably the most notable is young Blake Belladonna. Her semblance only adds to her already impressive skills in CQC. Her reflexes are beyond those of the rest of her peers. And her smaller frame makes her an even more elusive foe. She's probably the member of the group that's come the farthest in the last two months."

"How would they do in an actual combat scenario?" his employer inquired.

"They're doing fairly well against the AK-130s you gave me, but most of them still aren't ready yet. Except for Taurus and Belladonna. They can take down a few androids and hold their own against a human opponent, but I still wouldn't be dropping them in the field on their own anytime soon."

"Alright. You'll go with them then."

Slade paused to make sure he'd heard correctly. "Wait. What?" he asked.

The White Fang leader handed him a folder. "Here's where you're going and what I want you to do there. Get what you need to be ready. You're leaving at dusk."

The mercenary opened the folder and saw their destination. "You want them to raid a Schnee Dust warehouse?"

"If we're to rise up against our human oppressors, we're going to need to strike somewhere; make ourselves known. The Schnee Dust Company is at the top of the list for their mistreatment of our kind. It only seems fitting to start with them."

"They're also the richest on your list. And you want to send in recruits with two months of training to take on their defenses?!"

"I've waited this long to take action. Justice can't wait any longer."

"Two months isn't enough to adequately prepare you for a combat situation," Slade argued back.

"You said yourself that they could handle security drones and live guards," the leader reminded him. "Smaller Schnee warehouses like this one are primarily guarded by Atlesian Knights with very few guards keeping control of them. I'm not putting them anywhere they shouldn't be able to handle."

"They're not ready for this!"

"That is why you're going with them. You will be there to keep them alive and make sure the job gets done. If the recruits see that they're putting their training to use, they will believe they're actually making a difference and push themselves farther. That's good for us."

Slade stormed away to roll everything through his head. He knew the White Fang leader was an arrogant bastard, but he didn't realize he was this eager for the world's attention.

"You'll get a month's payment for each mission I send you and your recruits on," he offered the hired gun. "Consider it another contract." If Slade Wilson had one weakness, it was large sums of money. He'd dive into Hell and drag the Devil himself back out for the right price.

On his way out the door to gear up and gather his squad, Slade warned the man signing his paychecks, "You're going to get too many people killed with tactics like this."

The leader declared, "And their losses will be avenged in the coming storm."

* * *

 

The Bullhead was still about a mile out from their destination. Blake's nerves were going ballistic. She was on her first actual mission. She was finally going to put everything she'd learned to use.

It was her, Adam, and their instructor, Slade Wilson. Adam seemed very anxious to get out of the transport and get the mission started. Mister Wilson sat silently in his seat sliding a whetstone along the edge of his sword.

After a long and quiet flight, he resheathed his sword and stood up from his seat. "Alright, recruits, let's go over the mission. Our destination is a storage warehouse for the Schnee Dust Company on the outskirts of northern Vale. Know this. We're not here to steal Dust. We're not here to capture the warehouse. Your leader simply wants to send a message. He wants a demonstration of the White Fang's seriousness. Stealth is not important here. We want to be seen."

Adam's eyes filled with a little too much excitement at that last detail. "What kind of resistance are we expecting?"

"This isn't a hugely important facility to the Dust Company," their acting field commander informed them. "Their security is primarily composed of AK-130 androids. You two should be able to handle them by now. Just stay in close, take them out quickly, and don't let them group up on you. They're the most dangerous when they're synchronizing their attacks."

"Will there be any human guards?" Blake asked

"A few," Mr. Wilson answered her. "But don't worry about them. I'll take care of any live resistance. You just worry about the androids." He gave the two recruits a moment to take in the details they'd been told. "Now, tell me. Are you two ready to carry out the very first mission of the White Fang?"

The two looked to each other for a brief moment. Adam looked back at the mercenary. "Hell yeah." Blake nodded enthusiastically.

Slade couldn't help but smile. "Let's do it then." He pulled his mask over his face and turned to their pilot. "Take us in." The mission had officially begun.

* * *

 

The Bullhead flew in just over the warehouse. Slade dropped a sticky bomb on the roof of the facility and detonated it, creating their entrance. "Go!" he yelled as he jumped out of the ship and into the building.

Adam and Blake were close to follow. The instant she landed, she had to go into action. The Atlesian Knights were already closing on her. She drew her sword and rushed in like she'd been instructing, making quick, clean cuts and taking them down fast.

She was able to catch a glimpse of Adam during her deadly dance. He was a couple yards away in the middle of his own swarm of androids. He was hitting harder and showing more ferocity than Blake was. He was enjoying this arguably a little too much.

Slade was on the upper observation platforms taking on a group of four security guards. He was a force none of them could overcome, even with him only resorting to non-lethal blows.

Blake kept tally on how many Knights she'd taken down. She cut down her fifth one in time to see another eight charging her way. _Not so sure about this_ , she thought as she readied herself for the fight.

Before she could attack, gunshots went off and five of the oncoming androids blew apart. In the blink of an eye, Slade charged in and split the remaining three to pieces. "Clear!" he called out as the last one few in half.

Blake looked around and, upon seeing no more drones, repeated, "Clear!"

The two waited for Adam to report, but heard nothing. "Taurus!" Slade called out as he looked around for the Faunus. They heard slightly muffled crashing and gunshots coming from the upper levels. Her teacher turned to Blake and told her, "Wait here," and ran upstairs.

* * *

 

Slade followed the sound of the commotion to the main office overlooking the warehouse, worried of what he would find. There was a scream and the noises ended.

His worries were proven accurate when he opened the door and was greeted with a grotesque display. There were the bodies of three guards lying around the room in pools of blood. Adam was stood over the mutilated corpse of the manager of the facility and resheathed his sword.

He turned to face the mercenary, wiped the blood off his face, and said, "Clear."

"What did you do?" Slade asked the bull Faunus.

"I followed orders," he replied. "I think this'll send enough of a message."

Slade looked around at the boy's work. "This wasn't part of the plan. These deaths were unnecessary."

"Sometimes blood must be spilled so progress can be achieved." He sounded just like his leader.

Slade never told Blake about what actually happened in that room. The twelve-year old girl didn't need to know.

* * *

 

And this is how the next few months went. Slade was primarily responsible for training all of the White Fang's recruits. Their leader began to assemble a group of advisers and tacticians to aid in the planning process. Unfortunately, Slade remained the only one with any real military experience. He was still looked to for tactical advice, but this almost always turned into arguments that were brought to votes he had no chance of winning.

When an action was decided on, Wilson would be sent out on whatever mission he was assigned. He was almost always accompanied by Adam and Blake. They were the recruits with the highest degrees of success in the field, even with Adam's blood lust.

But those successful missions had consequences to them. Every time a plan went right, it would spark the leaders' arrogance even more. They would get cocky and be willing to take higher risks at the chance of higher rewards. Slade had a harder time trying to reel them back to the realm of sense and logic.

* * *

 

"They're a bunch of goddamn fools!" Slade shouted as he stormed out of the White Fang's "war room."

Blake was passing by just down the hall. She didn't know what was wrong, but was curious enough to go find out.

"What's the matter, Mister Wilson?" she asked the angered mercenary.

"What's the matter is your leader's going to get everyone who follows him killed!" he vented, not even trying to hide anything from the twelve-year-old girl. "He's so caught up in wanting to go down in history as a great revolutionary, he isn't thinking about his actions or what their outcomes will be if things go to shit."

"Well," Blake said, "he hasn't led us wrong so far. Look at everything we've done. All the people we've liberated from torment and hate."

Slade looked down at her. "Ah, Blake. Always so optimistic. You have no idea how many times he's almost screwed you. Every covert mission was almost a full on assault. Every scouting party was almost a bomb squad. Those liberated souls were almost acceptable casualties. You're lucky he ever listened to the tactical advice he's been paying me to give him."

"So as long as you're here to help, everything should be alright." Blake was still trying to point out the positives.

Slade sighed, bringing his anger down. "Well, kid, it seems everything will be less alright then. I'm done." Blake's positive outlook just got a lot more negative. "It seems my arguing was viewed as too disrespectful and proof of me being biased against your cause. I've been terminated. I will not be returning."

"You're leaving us?" the little Faunus girl asked him.

"Yes. And here's a piece of advice: do the same. The White Fang is not what you think. No good will come out of this militaristic approach. You'll be wanted as terrorists. You'll be hunted down and arrested. And that's if you don't get killed along the way in your leader's crusade."

Every word hurt Blake more and more. The man who taught her everything she knew, the one she looked up to, was telling her that the cause she had believed in for years was a corrupted one. All of this was piled on top of the fact that he was leaving them.

"You're wrong," she spoke up. All of Slade's attention was on her. "You're wrong about the White Fang. You're wrong about Adam. You're wrong about me. We aren't everything you say. The White Fang isn't the mind of the Faunus. It's the voice. The White Fang does what the Faunus want. We turn to violence because people notice. A protester with a speech and a sign gets ignored. If he's holding a sword, everyone listens." The tears started to flow. "You don't like it because you don't get it! You don't understand the struggles of the Faunus! You haven't had to live with it your whole life! If you had, you'd understand why we do what we do!"

Slade made no argument. Nothing could convince her. She was still too young and idealistic. He dropped down to one knee and put his hand on her shoulder. She refused to meet his eyes, feeling betrayed. Slade said to her, "I'm sorry, Blake." He stood up, turned, and walked away.

* * *

 

"And that was the last time I saw him," Blake finished telling her teammates. "And you know something? He was right. Everything he said about the White Fang was true."

"What happened after that?" Ruby asked.

"The White Fang kept hiring mercenaries as trainers, but paid them to only teach what they were told to teach. None of the rest were given nearly as much power and authority as Slade was. They were to make soldiers out of us and that's all."

"And Deathstroke?" Yang asked her. "They just let the guy who knew the most about the White Fang go free?"

"They sent a team after him, but none of them returned. They took his right eye, but, as we could see, that didn't exactly hinder him much. But Slade's a gun for hire. He's bound by a code to never reveal information about his contractors. It's not good practice."

"So we're not figuring out who's paying him to kill us then, are we?" Yang concluded.

"Doubtful," Blake said. "All I could get out of him was that it was someone we angered enough for them to offer a lot of money for us out of the way. Torchwick was the first one I thought of, but he's still in jail." She looked up to see her teammates giving guilty looks and refusing to make eye contact with her. "What?"

"Professor Ozpin came over before you got here," Ruby explained. "And… well… he told us that… apparently Torchwick… um… broke out."

Blake paused to make sure she heard right the first time. "What?!" she finally broke. "He got out?! How?!"

"Ozpin said there was a jailbreak," Yang explained to her enraged teammate. "Most of the inmates were recaptured before they could escape. But a few of them managed to get loose and are still missing."

"And Torchwick happens to be one of those few," her sister finished for her. "The professor thinks that he may have hired the assassin to go after us to get revenge for what happened at Mountain Glenn… and the freeway… and the docks… and maybe that Dust shop, too."

"Yeah," Yang added, "we're probably pretty close to the top of their shit-list."

"Great!" Blake snapped. "We know who's paying to have us gone. But that doesn't help the fact that the greatest assassin in Remnant is after our heads unless we surrender to him and agree to stand by as Torchwick and whoever else he's working with destroy society as we know it! And if we refuse to surrender or try to make any moves against them before their plans are done, we're dead!" All of this was rough on Blake, but learning that Torchwick, the criminal she devoted arguably too much of her focus into stopping, was back out on the streets again pushed her over the edge. Once again, he was bringing out the worst in her. "What are we supposed to do now?!"

"We stop them."

Everyone turned in surprise to who said that. At some point, Weiss had woken up from her drug-induced sleep. Everyone's stress levels were so high, her team didn't even notice.

"We stop them like we always do," she said confidently.

"It's not that simple anymore," Blake assured her. "Deathstroke is more than we can handle."

"Nonsense," the heiress wrote it off. "I thought the White Fang was more than we could handle, but look at the last few months."

"This is different," the cat-eared girl continued to argue. "He's a professional assassin. He kills for a living. He's practically perfected it!"

"And we're huntresses! We're not trained to give up as soon as things seem too hard. We find a way to win. We did it with the Grimm in the forest. We did it with Torchwick and the White Fang. We'll do it with Deathstroke."

"I'm with Weiss on this," Yang jumped in. "And he caught us when we weren't ready. Now that we know he's after us and who we're dealing with, we can be a bit more prepared."

"He didn't exactly make it easy for us to fight back, either," Ruby pointed out. "I love her to death, but Crescent Rose isn't the best when it comes to cramped quarters and small platforms."

"Not a whole lotta room for four huntresses and a very large man on those catwalks, either," her sister added. "Our numbers became a weakness up there."

"If we're going to face him again," Weiss said, "we're going to have to do it on our terms."

"Yeah. Make him come to us," Yang agreed with her.

"But how do we do that?" Ruby asked. "He's more likely to just shoot at us from far away like at the stadium. We need to take him on face-to-face."

Blake was about to try and convince everyone that it was still hopeless again, but then an idea appeared in her head. "What if we get him when he least expects it?" Everyone gave her their attention. "What if we take up his offer? We agree to stand down. We meet him in person to negotiate surrender and spring an ambush. We take him then. We'll catch him off guard."

Weiss was the first to speak up. "I say we do it."

"There's only one problem, though. Slade only gave us a twenty four hour window to contact him."

Ruby's eyes filled with worry. "There's no way Weiss will be ready to fight by then."

"And I don't think she should be left here alone," Yang noted. "I think Ruby should stay here just in case."

Ruby whined, "But I wanted to help fight."

"Ruby, think about it," her sister told her. "We don't know if there's anyone else after us. If we all go and leave Weiss here by herself, she'll be a sitting duck."

Ruby thought about her sister's reasoning for a moment and nodded her head. "Alright. I'll do it."

"So Ruby will stay here with Weiss just in case while Blake and I go bust some heads."

"Are you sure about this, Yang?" her partner asked. "You and me against Deathstroke?"

"Come on, Blakey. We don't wanna be _too_ unfair to the guy."

"Alright," Weiss said. "But where are you going to lure him to? He caught us in a tight spot last time. I would suggest someplace more open with no one around to get hurt. Maybe a construction site or something."

"Wow, Weiss," Yang criticized her, "Do you think you could pick something any more cliche? How 'bout an abandoned cathedral?"

"Don't worry," Blake assured her. "I know just the place."

With that being said, Blake pulled out the communicator she'd been given and made the call. "Slade!"

It didn't take long to hear a response. "You convinced your friends facing me is suicide?"

"We give up, Slade. Tell your employers they win."

"Excellent. But it's not quite that easy. They're going to want to be convinced a little more. And for them to be convinced, we're going to have to meet again. In person."

Team RWBY looked at each other with concerned looks. They didn't have to convince him to see them at all.

"Alright," Blake agreed. "Noon. The old Schnee Dust warehouse outside of north Vale."

They heard Slade chuckle a little. "Going for sentimental value, I see. I'll be there. See you soon, Blake." He ended the call.

Blake set the communicator down. The team sat in silence for a moment.

"Well," Ruby broke the silence, "one way or another, this is going to end tomorrow. One way being that you guys are going to totally kick his butt! Another way being that he will see the error in his ways and we can convince him to turn against his dark masters and join us and be the fifth greatest huntsman ever! You know, after me, then Yang, then Blake, and then Weiss."

"Please," Weiss spoke out against her placement on Ruby's list, "I'm obviously far superior to you." The other two just laughed a bit at the two's petty argument.

Then she remembered. With everything that's happened, she had almost forgotten. "By the way, Weiss," Blake said as she picked up the bag she'd dropped upon Yang's bear hug as she first entered the room, "on my way here, I found your stuff by security where you left it." She handed the heiress a bag containing her overpriced merchandise.

"Well," Weiss said as she took it, "at least we've got the important things." She then proceeded to open the bag, pull out one of the shirts, and put it on. "Alright, I can die happy now," she joked.

Everyone laughed as Weiss took out the rest of her purchases and started passing them around. She tossed Blake the hat, and the sisters each a shirt. While everyone put their distributed gear on, she took out her Gavin bobblehead and set on the table next to her. She plucked its nose and smiled as it head bounced around.

"Hey, guys," Yang called to her teammates, "I think we've got a problem."

Everyone looked to their blonde companion to see what was the matter. The shirt she'd been given was stuck. She couldn't pull it down any farther. Turns out the Ice Queen's clothing wasn't exactly compatible with a girl of Yang's… proportions. She looked up to her team with her arms being held up by the tiny sleeves and the rest of the shirt bunched up and sitting on top of her boobs. "Anyone wanna trade?"

With those words, the room burst into laughter. Regardless of what tomorrow would bring, tonight was going out on a high note.

* * *

 

Deathstroke ended the call with Blake and set his communicator down. He then reached to his earpiece to make another call. "Rose, have you found them?"

Rose Wilson, AKA Ravager, responded, "I have. I'm on the rooftop directly across from their hospital room. I'll move in."

"No. Hold your position for now," he commanded.

"I can take them!" she argued back.

"Rose, that's an order! Three huntresses is still out of your league. I will be meeting with Misses Belladonna and Xiao Long in the morning to 'discuss' a surrender. They will not be giving up quietly. I will deal with them. With her teammate still hospitalized, little Miss Ruby Rose will be the only one left to put up a fight. You should be able to handle her. But wait for my signal before engaging."

"You sure about all this?" she asked doubtfully. "How do you know that one of them is staying?"

"I'm a professional, Rose. I'm not going to just blindly trust my enemies not to retaliate. Blake was foolish for not assuming the communicator I gave her contained a listening or tracking device. I heard everything."

"Fine. I'll hold here until your command."

"Good. And, Rose, remember. Keep collateral damage as low as possible. Our employer doesn't want more attention drawn to this than is necessary. Get in, take out the targets, and get out as quickly as possible."

Slade heard his daughter groan. "I understand, Father."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus ends the longest chapter in RWBY: Contract. (Just barely longer than the next one) Simultaneously the most difficult and most fun to write.  
> The next chapter is it. The final confrontation. The end is nigh.  
> Also, if you want more details on Deathstroke's previous work with Cinder and why Torchwick isn't still in jail after Volume 2, check out my companion piece to this story, RWBY: Jailbreak, tomorrow.


	6. Chapter 6

Blake stared up at the old warehouse as a flood of memories came back to her.

"He said this place was sentimental to you," her teammate, Yang, brought up.

"Yes," she replied. "This was the first place the White Fang hit after the new leader. And I was one of the ones who hit it. Me, Adam, and Slade. That was my first mission."

"Is it hard being here again?" her partner asked her.

Blake paused for a moment to reflect. She did a lot of things in her time with the White Fang, most of them bad. She was a thief, a vandal, an arsonist, and a kidnapper; all but a cold blooded murderer. And all of those terrible deeds started here. Remembering the night of her first mission brought back the memories of all her crimes. They were memories she had worked hard to repress.

"No. I'm fine," the former rebel finally answered as she swallowed her emotions back down.

"Oh. Okay then." Yang knew she was lying, but also knew that now wasn't the time to pry too much. With an opponent like the one they were here to face, they had to be focused.

This was the longest conversation the two had had since the night before. Everyone tried their hardest to get as much sleep as possible to prepare for this moment. This was an easy task for none of them.

The team had been in tough situations before, but they had always found a way to come out on top. No person or Grimm had ever beaten them to the degree that Deathstroke did. And the fact that he had effectively split RWBY up only made it harder for them to stomach as the two huntresses left their friends to face the assassin.

That nervous reaction was only amplified by an unquantifiable degree as the two girls stood in front of the rendezvous location.

"Well, we can't keep waiting out here forever," Yang tried to pump them up a bit. "C'mon. We've got some ass to kick."

* * *

 

The warehouse had seen better days. It wasn't in a state of disrepair, but it was showing how little it was used. It was a smaller facility than the ones that the Schnee Dust Company presently had in use. Before the White Fang started attacking the Dust Company, it was used for storing freshly imported Dust before it was sent out around Vale. After it was attacked, Dust ceased to be stored there. Now it was used for storing mining equipment and large storage canisters. Most of these tools were out of date by now, making them next to worthless. And it being the first known target hit by the White Fang made it pretty undesirable to any potential buyers of the building.

The two huntresses entered the building at 11:00 AM. Their plan was to get there before Deathstroke did. They would use the extra time to survey the building's interior and plot out the ambush. But when they walked in, that plan immediately went out the window.

"Hello, girls," the assassin greeted them as he stepped down the stairs from the observation platform overlooking the warehouse. "Didn't expect to see you here this early." He was in his full battle armor with his standard set of guns, knives, and swords. His mask was pulled up onto the top of his head, allowing his face to be visible.

Blake kept up their charade. "We're done, Slade. We give up. What do you want from us now?"

"That's it. That's all I needed to hear," he replied. He walked closer to them and pulled something from his utility belt. "Now if you could just repeat it so we have it on record." He held a Scroll out in front of the two and pressed record.

Blake looked to her partner for approval. Yang gave her a reassuring nod and Blake spoke into the Scroll, "Team RWBY hereby surrenders to Slade Wilson and those he represents."

"Excellent," Slade said as stopped the recording. "Now that wasn't so hard, was it? Now for the next part." He placed his Scroll back into his belt pocket and pulled out what looked like two collars.

"Alright, pal. What are those supposed to be?" Yang demanded.

"I call them insurance," the assassin explained. "They're an idea I got after my time working for the government. Each of these collars is fitted with an explosive that can be remotely detonated by me at any time."

"You're placing bombs around our necks?" Blake questioned him.

"They're meant to give you the incentive to stay out of my employers' way. I told you I'd be watching you, Blake," he reminded her. "You will keep these on until my employers consider this contract over. Any of your team try to oppose their plans, and I will activate them. They can also only be removed by me. Tampering or removal will cause detonation."

"I am not putting that thing on!" Yang retorted.

Deathstroke gave the girl a half smile. "It is this or death."

"Yang," Blake called her name. The blonde looked to her teammate. Blake made eye contact with her gave her a slight nod. Yang understood perfectly. She turned back to the assassin. "Alright. Just do it already."

With Yang's agreement, Slade stepped forward and reached out to wrap the explosive collar around her neck. As he got closer, the blonde grinned and said, "On second thought…"

Yang swatted his arms away and pushed the mercenary back. She reared her arm back to throw a punch, but Slade caught her hand. Yang looked up to see him already bringing a knife down on her.

The moment before the blade could make contact, Gambol Shroud swatted it out of his hand. Blake gave her teammate an opening to punch Deathstroke in the abdomen hard enough to cause him to stumble away from the two huntresses.

The two readied themselves for combat as the assassin regained his footing.

Slade chuckled to himself. "I gave you a choice, Blake. And you chose." He pressed his finger to his earpiece and spoke, "Negotiations are over. You're clear to engage." He pulled his mask down over his face, reached over his shoulder, and drew his sword. "Let's make this quick. I need to get paid."

* * *

 

The hospital room was painfully quiet that morning. Neither girl wanted to say anything with the knowledge that their two best friends were facing the biggest threat Team RWBY has ever faced without them.

Weiss didn't even have the stomach to eat the cafeteria food that had been brought to her. Her mind wouldn't stop focusing on the bad things that could happen today. There was a seriously good chance that Blake and Yang won't be able to defeat Deathstroke and she knew it.

Ruby's mind… was focused elsewhere. "Hey, Weiss."

"Yes, Ruby?"

"Are you gonna eat your Jell-O?"

The Ice Queen rolled her eyes at her teammate's simpleness. "Go for it."

Ruby took the bowl and began scarfing down the dessert. Weiss would never admit it, but there was something she envied about Ruby. No matter how grim things looked, she always saw the upside; the best possible ending. To her, there was no other way this could end besides victory. While a bit naive, it wasn't such a bad outlook to have on life. It would certainly settle the heiress's nerves for a second.

Weiss was pulled out of her thoughts by a doctor walking into the room. "You seem to be doing better," he said as he walked in. "I'm just here to-" He was interrupted by a cable shooting across the room and embedding itself into the wall next to him. The doctor looked to the window on the opposite wall in time to see a figure zipline through. The intruder kicked him in the head as she dropped down from the cable and landed, knocking him out cold.

Ruby jumped up from her seat and put herself between the assailant and her still bedridden teammate.

Their attacker was a teenage girl with white hair. She was dressed in a light, armored suit with an orange and black color scheme nearly identical to that of Deathstroke. She wore a mask of the same color design and her left eye covered.

"Hold on," Ruby said. "Does Deathstroke have a sister or something?"

The masked girl turned to the young huntress-in-training and sneered, "Deathstroke is my father. My name is Rose Wilson. I am the Ravager."

Ruby looked to Weiss. "I guess Yang was right about me needing to stay behind, huh?"

Rose drew a sword and threw it at the hooded girl's head. Her speed allowed her to duck in time and the sword planted itself into the wall. As soon as she stood back up, she was being lifted off the ground by her throat. Ravager looked her up and down in disgust. "This is what my father needed help with? This is what my talents are being wasted on?!" With her heightened strength, she threw the young girl into the wall behind her, getting her out of the way. She then turned to Weiss.

Rose walked over to the bed and pulled her sword from the wall. "Killing a Schnee should get me some recognition of my own."

With her body still recovering from Deathstroke's poison and the drugs to counteract it, Weiss was in no shape to try and make a speedy retreat. She desperately looked around her for something to defend herself with. There was nothing helpful within arm's reach. Myrtenaster was across the room, but she didn't have the time or strength to get to it.

In a last hope attempt to fight back, Weiss threw a punch at her assailant. Deathstroke's daughter caught the fist in air, displaying her advanced speed and reflexes.

"That's twice a huntress has failed to impress me. My father promised me a challenge." Ravager raised her sword into the air above the helpless heiress. She brought it down and Weiss shut her eyes, waiting for the hit.

"What the hell?!" She heard Rose yell. She opened her eyes to see the young assassin struggling against her blade as it rested mere inches above its target.  _ That could only mean _ \- Weiss turned her head to see Pyrrha standing in the room's doorway with her arms outstretched, using her semblance of magnetism to keep the sword at bay.

"Perhaps I may be able to impress you," the redheaded warrior announced before forcing the assassin's blade back away from her friend. Weiss saw the opening Pyrrha made for her and kicked her attacker away from her. Rose staggered back and glared at her new opponent.

Pyrrha drew Miló and Akoúọ and analyzed the assassin. She had only gotten a brief look last time, but it was enough to confirm that the girl staring her down bore the same colors as the shooter from the concert. She was still pissed about Jaune.  _ This isn't the same man with the gun, but she will be acceptable. _

"If you wish for a challenge, face me instead," she provoked the shooter's accomplice.

Rose chuckled a little and drew a second sword. "You're not one of my father's prey. But I don't see why I shouldn't kill you, too. We'll just consider this one-" She didn't get to finish her statement before crashing through the wall.

With her attention focused on Pyrrha, she failed to see Ruby recovering after being thrown against the wall. The young huntress was able to build up enough energy to launch herself at Ravager with a very high velocity, tackling her through the wall and into the neighboring room. Pyrrha saw all of the preparation to this and was merely holding the assassin's attention while Ruby charged up.

Once the two were gone, she rushed over to Weiss. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine," the heiress assured her. "But Ruby needs help. She won't be able to face her alone."

Pyrrha gave a determined nod and charged through the newly formed hole in the wall to enter the fray.

* * *

 

Yang stumbled back after being kicked in the chest. Blake charged in to buy her a moment's rest. With her semblance, she lunged forward off a Shadow Clone, but Deathstroke's reflexes were too quick. He blocked her strike and delivered a counterattack. The two went back and forth for a moment until Slade was able to knock both of her swords to the side and headbutt her in the nose. Blake recoiled back and reached for her face, feeling blood. The assassin took advantage of her dropping her guard and swung his blade towards her. Blake acted just quickly enough to block the attack in time for Yang to jump forward and take her place.

Yang was much more aggressive than her teammate, sending a nonstop volley of shotgun punches at her opponent. Deathstroke was forced to play defensively and wait for an opening. This proved easier than one would think for the master assassin. While the girl gave a nearly overwhelming offense, her defense dropped. A quick counter would break her barrage and leave her vulnerable.

As she threw her next punch, Slade batted her arm to the side, throwing her off. He followed up by slashing his sword at her chest. Yang pulled her arm down in time for her gauntlet to take the blow, but wasn't fast enough to avoid him kicking her across the face.

And just like that, both huntresses were knocked down, wiping the blood from their faces, and trying to get back up. Normally Deathstroke would take this opportunity to end the fight quickly. But he was feeling a little overconfident and opted to simply taunt them.

"I must say, ladies, I'm rather disappointed. I thought I was going to get some exercise today or at least break a sweat."

"Keep talking, asshole," Yang said back as she got back to her feet and spit a wad of blood from her mouth.

Blake wiped her bleeding nose and turned to her partner. "Yang." The blonde looked to her. "Bumblebee." They smiled to each other, agreeing on their new strategy, and charged their opponent as one.

Blake struck first, leaping at the assassin. As he swung his blade to parry her attack, she suddenly lunged back, leaving her afterimage to take the hit. With his momentum already carrying his sword down through the mirage, he couldn't act fast enough to stop Yang's gauntlet from making contact with his face, firing on impact. His mask took most of the damage at the cost of most of its left side being blown apart.

Now angered at taking such a hit from a teenager, Slade pushed forward and swung his sword at the blonde's unprotected midsection. But just as the blade reached its mark, Blake appeared to deflect the strike and give Yang another opening to blast him in the chest. He attempted drawing a handgun and firing off a shot, but Blake rushed forward and sliced the barrel off. He brought his sword back around but the Faunus parried it away. Yang followed by delivering another punch across his face, sending him and his sword rolling in two different directions.

Deathstroke was able to roll back to his feet and draw a second gun. Blake once again dashed right up to him and caught his gun between her two blades, cleaving it in half. When she stepped back and her partner raced forward, he was ready. He drew his staff and thrust it toward her. She dodged the thrust and caught the weapon in her hands. With her now closer to him, Slade pulled a knife and swung it at her head. She ducked under the slash and Blake came up to catch his arm as he tried a second time. Yang took advantage of his temporary immobilization and blasted him in the gut. She pulled the staff from his hands as he was thrown back. To add insult to injury, she took his rather expensive ballistic staff and broke it over her knee.

Now with no blades or guns, Deathstroke needed to alter his tactics.  _ Their synchronization is perfect. Blake provides the quick, defensive counters and sets up her partner to deliver the real damage. Clever girls. The only counterattack is to divide and conquer _ .

Ready to end this, Yang charged forward and reared her arm back. Slade pulled the last tool he had on him and fired it. The gun fired a metal claw which clamped onto Ember Celica and fired off a secondary claw up into the rafters. A strong line connected them and effectively restrained her arm from moving.

Before she could even react to her predicament, all of Yang's limbs were attached to the ceiling and she was hanging upside down by the cables. Blake rushed forward to help her, but Deathstroke was on her too quickly. She swung Gambol Shroud's sheath only for him to grab her weapon and pry it from her grasp. She swung her sword, but he caught her forearm with his other hand and pulled her in close. The assassin then jabbed his knee right into her gut, knocking the wind out of her. As she crumpled to her knees, Deathstroke grabbed her by the throat, lifted her into the air, slammed her to the ground, and kicked her across the floor.

"You're done, Blake," he snarled as he stalked over to the downed huntress. "You had a good run, but it's over."

Blake picked up Gambol Shroud and surveyed her surroundings to find some way to gain the advantage again. She only had the sword half of her weapon. The sheath was still held tightly in Deathstroke's hand. She looked above her and an idea sparked in her head. She'd take a more indirect approach. She collapsed her weapon into its gun form and fired off a shot. The bullet flew just over Slade's shoulder and shattered a light hanging from the ceiling.

The assassin laughed mockingly at her. "I spent all that time teaching you stealth and swordplay when I should have been teaching you how to shoot."

"I'm better than you think," the huntress remarked before shooting out all of the lights in the warehouse.

The entire building went dark. Deathstroke reached up and clicked on a flashlight attached to his earpiece. He shined the beam towards his opponent to reveal her disappearance. "Clever girl, Blake. Using your heightened Faunus senses to your advantage."

"From shadows," she recited the slogan by which she was taught from somewhere in the darkness. There was enough echo to prevent sound from pointing her out.

Slade couldn't help but feel a little proud. "It seems I taught you well. So let's see just how well, shall we? You hide and I'll seek." He pulled what was left of his mask off his face and threw it the ground before he began searching the shadows for his elusive prey.

* * *

 

"Alright, Doctor Free. We've gotta get this heart to surgery, take out the busted one, and slap this one in," Doctor Jones was prepping his colleague as they pushed the cart containing the transplant organ down the hall.

"I can't believe we're finally getting to head the operation. I'm tired of just watching like a mongy little minge," the British surgeon said.

"We've got this shit in the bag, boi. Nothing's gonna f*** this up."

Right at that moment, Rose Wilson came crashing through the wall and into the two doctors, knocking over both of them and their cart. Upon landing, all three of them shouted, "Mother f***er!"

Rose jumped to her feet as Pyrrha charged through and swung Miló at her. She handspringed away from the strike and the two dueled down the hall.

Ruby poked out through the hole in the wall to follow the action. She saw the two surgeons, one digging through the turned over cart and the other rolling around on the ground.

Doctor Jones opened the box containing the needed organ. "Where's the f***in' heart?! It's gone!"

Doctor Free was still rolling around in pain. "My knee! I really banged it!"

"Sorry," Ruby apologized as she ran past them.

Doctor Jones yelled back, "You f***ing whores!"

As Ruby sprinted towards the girls locked in combat, she expanded Crescent Rose and fired a shot behind her. The recoil sent her flying back into the action. She swung her scythe at Ravager as she flew past. The young assassin protected her body from the blade, but the sheer force behind the hit sent her to the ground.

Once she slowed down, Ruby collapsed her weapon back to its rifle form. Crescent Rose's biggest downfall was her sheer size. She was simply too massive to be swung around effectively in the hospital hallways and not cause huge amounts of collateral damage. Because of this, she left most of the CQC to Pyrrha while she waited for her opportunity to make a quick strike.

With her opponent down, Pyrrha pressed the attack. She leaped into the air and brought Akoúọ downwards on her. Rose rolled to her right to avoid the shield's edge crushing her windpipe. She kicked her legs and sweeped the huntress off her feet.

Now that they were both on the ground, Ravager pounced on her foe. She slashed her swords wildly down at her. Pyrrha held her shield above her to deflect the attacks before swiping one of Rose's swords to the side.

Rose didn't let that slow her down. She continued to punch the redhead in her face twice before stabbing her other sword at her neck. Pyrrha moved her head in time for the blade to only nick her armored collar as it stabbed into the floor.

The assassin attempted to pull her weapon back for another strike, but her initial pull couldn't dislodge it from the floor. Before she could put some real strength into her pull, Pyrrha lurched her head forward and collided with Ravager's. She recoiled back and left the huntress open to deliver a mighty kick to her sternum.

The white haired girl stumbled back in pain. Hearing footsteps, she turned in time to see Ruby swing her gun like a baseball bat right before the stock hit her across the cheek. The blow sent her forward back into Pyrrha's grasp. Having since picked herself up off the floor and shouldered her weapons, she grabbed Rose by her belt and collar, lifted her off her feet, and flung her down the hall.

She tumbled for a moment and staggered back to her feet. Pyrrha wasn't done though. She redrew Miló in its spear form and threw it at the arrogant assassin. The spear pierced through her bicep and dragged her all the way back until it embedded itself into the wall.

Rose winced for a second before reaching over to the spear that stuck straight through her upper arm. With a cry of pain, she ripped it out of the wall and her arm.

She huffed a few times before boasting, "You can't beat me. My father's blood flows through my veins. Whatever serum that made him what he is, I was born with it. It was infused with my genes. No amount of harm can kill me." Even as she said this, the gaping hole in her arm slowly began to close itself back up.

With the spear in hand, she began stalking back down to the two huntresses. She passed the giant hole in the wall they had created earlier and shouted. "I am everything my father is and more! I am The Ravager!"

Suddenly, a blast of ice struck her from her side and fused her to the opposite wall. From the hole in the wall, out stepped Weiss in her hospital gown. In one hand she held Myrtenaster, still emanating a blue glow from its blade. In the other she was dragging the wheeled pole carrying her IV setup.

"An amateur is what you are," she snarked at her subdued assassin.

The other two huntresses walked over to view their opponent's predicament. Her entire body was covered in ice that bound her to the floor and wall, right next to one of the patient's rooms. The only thing left uncovered was her head, something that was very quickly regretted.

"No! This isn't possible!" she protested as she struggled to free herself. "I'm The Ravager! You're just a bunch of f***ing children! I am the greatest assassin to ever live! I won't be beaten by the likes of-" BAM!

The door to the room she was stuck next to suddenly swung forcefully open and clocked her in the head, finally knocking her out cold. Jaune stood in the doorway, dazed and donning a hospital gown, with a sling holding his arm and a whole lot of bandages for his wounded shoulder.

"Look, guys, I don't wanna come off the wrong way, but… do you think you could keep it down a bit? People are trying to sleep here."

With that he closed the door and went back to his bed, not acknowledging any of the signs of battle outside.

* * *

 

Blake was doing a good job of staying out of sight as Deathstroke hunted her in the dark. When the lights were out, the warehouse was nearly pitch black. The building was still filled with aisles of crates full of machinery parts and Dust storage canisters. They were stacked high and provided excellent cover and vantage points.

Blake's footsteps were light as a cat's as she made her way through the dark. Her Faunus eyes illuminated everything as bright as day. Her senses kept her aware of her surroundings and the location of her former mentor.

Deathstroke was playing a game of his own. Most others would be angry or afraid of searching an old, dark warehouse for an opponent as tactical and well-trained as the Faunus girl. He was too busy savoring the thrill of the hunt as he paced up and down the aisles, shining his headlight around and keeping his hearing sharp to find his target. All he could hear was her partner struggling against her bindings as she hung upside down on the other side of the facility.

"I'm impressed, Blake," he spoke into the shadows. "You've gotten good in the past five years. Was it that school for huntsmen or the White Fang where you honed your abilities? I want to know how scrappy I should expect you to be."

Blake didn't answer, refusing to let his words get under her skin. She was staying close to Slade, keeping him in her sight while staying out of his.

"When we fought at the stadium," he kept going, "it looked like you were using more of your huntress training and trying to work with your team. Once it was just you and your partner, you got a little more opportunistic, but still acted like a civilized combatant. But skulking around in the shadows, waiting for a perfect shot at a killing blow, that's a terrorist tactic. That's what I taught you."

Blake started thinking about his words and how her training from the White Fang hadn't fully left her. In her actions and tactics, she was still just as much the rebel that she had been so long ago.  _ No. I left that life behind. I'm not what I was. _

"I'm also disappointed in you, though. You were actually foolish enough to trust that I hadn't bugged the communicator I gave you. You decided to keep it with you while you and your team discussed your plan to take me down in great detail, assuming no one would hear."

_ What? _ Blake thought in shock.  _ He knew what we were planning? _

"I wonder how Miss Schnee is doing with only little Ruby to defend her. It'd be a shame for her to survive a dose of my venom concoction only to get a sword through the heart. Once I'm through with you and Miss Xiao Long, I'll be contacting my accomplice to see how much of a fight they put up."

With that said, Blake panicked. She wanted to pull out her Scroll and contact Ruby and Weiss, but couldn't afford to take her focus off Deathstroke. She had to finish this quickly and warn her friends. She sprung out from the shadows and struck at the assassin. He quickly spun around and blocked her attack. She stayed on the offensive, letting her fear for her friends and anger toward her former teacher drive her actions.

Still wielding the bladed sheath to Gambol Shroud, Slade simply stayed defensive and blocked every attack that was sent his way before batting her in the face with the butt of her own weapon. He followed by elbowing her in the chest and finally kicking her to the ground.

She was down, but Slade wasn't done yet. He grabbed her by the hair and dragged her away from her dropped weapon and back out to the front of the warehouse where their battle had started. Blake cried out in pain as she could feel locks being pulled from her scalp. He dropped her hair only to lift her up by her throat.

Yang, having been tied up and unable to follow everything that was going on, could now see her teammate being held in the air, illuminated by the assassin's light. "Don't you touch her!" she shouted as she continued to struggle against her restraints.

Slade ignored her and chose to taunt Blake more. "You thought you knew me enough that you could take me down, Blake? You thought me so easily beatable?"

Blake, struggling for air, said back, "I thought I knew you. But I didn't know you at all."

He loosened his grip a bit, wanting to hear what she had to say before finishing her. It was the least he could do for his former student.

She sucked in another breath and looked him in the eyes. "You're a monster, Slade. Of all the bad things I've done, none of it compares to you." She gasped again. "I had purpose. Something to believe in. Something that drove me to my actions. What drives you, Slade?"

Slade had had enough and threw her across the floor. She got to her hands and knees and started crawling away, searching for something to defend herself with. Then, she noticed something on the floor. She reached out for it and picked it up. It was Deathstroke's sword, the one he dropped in his fight with her and Yang. She looked back. Slade was stalking over towards her, her blade still in his hand. Yang was still hanging behind him, struggling against her restraints and shouting at the assassin. She had one, last ditch idea.

"I want to let you know, Blake," the assassin said as he got closer and raised her blade up, "you did better than most."

Blake made her move. She rose to her feet and flung the sword at him. Deathstroke was able to quickly drop to his knee to duck under it as it flew past him.

He rose back to his feet and chuckled. "Nice final act of defiance, but I'm afraid you've got nothing left." As he was finishing his statement, he noticed a golden glow on the ground around him. It appeared to be emanating from behind him.

He turned to see Yang Xiao Long rushing towards him. Her binds had been cut by the thrown sword, her hair was set ablaze, and her eyes burned red. Slade saw her just in time to realize what had happened before she threw a punch with triple her strength and landed it right across his left cheek. The sheer amount of force behind the punch sent him flying across the room and into a stack of crates. He was out cold before he even landed.

"Let that be a lesson to anyone who tries to f*** with Team RWBY!" Yang shouted at her unconscious opponent.

Blake got back up onto her feet and placed her hand on her partner's shoulder. Yang turned back and was immediately calmed by her smile. Her eyes turned back to their lilac color and her hair's glow died down.

With Yang's hair no longer providing light for the two, Blake had to lead them out of the warehouse where they could call their friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it. Contract has come to its end. There's still one last chapter, though.


	7. Epilogue

A few phone calls later and Deathstroke was being led onto a Bullhead by military personnel. They already had his accomplice, his daughter Rose, in custody. Surprisingly, Slade went quietly. In a very uncharacteristic manner, he seemed to accept his defeat. His daughter, however, did not share his calm demeanor to their capture. Ever since she regained consciousness, she had been struggling and shouting profanities at her captors.

A small group of huntsmen showed up to ensure that the arresting process went smoothly. Professor Ozpin himself came out to meet with Blake and Yang. Upon his arrival, he informed them that Ruby and Weiss were unharmed and able to fight off their attacker. He took the two battered huntresses on board his airship to take them back to the hospital to meet up again with their teammates.

The flight over was relatively quiet. The two girls were exhausted. The last twenty-four hours had been rough on them. They had been through a lot in that time. Not five minutes after getting on board, Yang was already fast asleep. "I can only kick so much ass in one day," was her reasoning before she closed her eyes. As much as Blake wanted to follow her friend's example, she had too much on her mind.

"I'm impressed, Blake," Professor Ozpin said as he took a seat next to her. "Facing him alone probably wasn't the smartest or safest move, but it seems luck was on your side."

The Faunus girl explained, "People were already hurt because he was coming for us. We thought we could keep everyone else safe if we threw ourselves into harm's way."

"And that is what being a huntress is about," he told her. "Choosing to risk your own life to protect the lives of others. I hear that Mister Arc performed a similar act last night at the concert."

Remembering that Jaune took a bullet for her brought Blake a bit of sadness. She couldn't be more grateful for her life and knew he'd be okay, but she still wished it didn't have to happen.

"I do hope you realize though that you are still just students. You don't have to be burdened by all of the responsibilities of someone at my age. You can ask for help and I, or any other huntsman, will be happy to provide it." She turned away from him. "You're young, Blake. You don't have to be too grown up yet."

"If only that were true," she muttered.

Seeing his words having little effect, Ozpin decided to change the subject. "Your friends told me that when you were first attacked, and everyone else panicked, you took charge and exemplified great skills in leadership. Perhaps you could make a fine leader and head your own team someday."

Blake responded, "No, I couldn't. You see, after I told everyone what to do, I left them. I left my team to go chase a hunch that very well could have gotten me killed. And when everyone else was willing to put up a fight, I was ready to just roll over and accept defeat. If it wasn't for my teammates, I wouldn't have walked out of that warehouse."

"I admire your honesty, both to me and yourself. But those things don't deny that you still have potential," He reassured her. "They just say that you're still learning and you're still growing, not just as a huntress, but also as a person."

Blake stayed quiet, still not wanting to face her headmaster, but she took in every word.

Realizing she didn't want to go any further, Ozpin stood up from his seat. "Think about what I said, Blake. And try not to be too hard on yourself. You've done things greater men would fail to."

He began to walk over to the cockpit of the airship to check up on the pilots. Halfway out of the room he stopped and turned back to the tired girl. "You said you were chasing a hunch. Would you mind if I asked what it was?"

Blake paused for a moment before answering. "The assassin… I thought I knew him."

"And did you?" the professor asked.

"No. No I didn't."

* * *

 

Slade sat with his eyes closed and his arms restrained in the airship as he was flown to whatever maximum security prison he would have to break out of next. He was currently concocting his plan for escape when he noticed something wrong as he felt his weight shift.

"If my estimates are correct, which they are," he said aloud to the two guards sitting across from him, "we are no longer heading towards any holding cell in Vale." He opened his eyes to the two guards removing their helmets. "You thought I wouldn't notice us turn sixteen degrees north, did you? So tell me, what does dear Miss Fall want of me now?"

Mercury tossed his helmet to his side and answered, "Our boss wants you to know that the contract is over. Too much attention has already been called to the matter. You failed under all parameters and will not receive payment."

His partner, Emerald, chimed in, "She also decided to arrange the freeing of both you and your daughter if you forget we ever existed or that you were involved in any of this."

Slade grunted, "Forget a failed job? I'll do my best."

"She does want one final thing from you, though." Slade immediately felt a rush of annoyance upon hearing the voice of the man walking out of the cockpit. Roman Torchwick lit his cigar and said, "Cinder wants to know everything she possibly can about how to take down a certain little team of brats. So she wanted me to ask you," he took a puff, "what can you tell us about your friend, little Miss Belladonna?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is it. I hope all who have made it to this point have enjoyed the ride.  
> And, if you are willing to wait an undetermined amount of time, (probably not a very short one) I can promise that there will be more tales coming from this Remnant filled with heroes in capes.  
> And if you'd like to see something with more romance to it, I'd advise checking out Rae_Joker's work, History and Love, (http://archiveofourown.org/works/5330099/chapters/12307076) starring Miss Velvet Scarlatina.  
> Now if you'll excuse me, I need to continue recovering from the last few episodes of RWBY Volume 3.


End file.
